Various unreleased and beta games

"I don't know what the name of the final version is" session. Please bear in mind that some of these games may be unreleased.

Straight guys - Playstation. (CD Consoles 8 - june 1995)

Sega Adventure - Saturn . (CD Consoles 8 - june 1995 + CD Consoles 11 - november 1995)
Probably already discussed but its name is no the kind of names Google likes. It seems too early for Torico but it has the same kind of graphics.

This article talk about the planned N64 game by Utopia Technologies (we know it was Montezuma Revenge).
But it is more interesting because it talk about another unknown project by the developer, a third person action game.

Was D-Jump planned for N64 too (can't read french)? The images in the first page looks like artworks while the ones in the second seems realtime screenshots.

Celine> At first, I thought about MegaRace but it was released on PC in 1993, so its name was probably known at the time. Plus, Cryo was the developer of the original game. Though, Mindscape was the publisher of the 3DO version.

I'm a big fan of Sonic but even with that new video it's clear to see that Sonix Xterem would have been another shitty Bug! type of game. I just looks so awful and fiddly to be any good.

Click to expand...

I don't care what anyone from STI says... that build of Sonic Xtreme (assuming it was genuine Saturn code in the first place) seen in the E3 promotional video looks too much like BUG! for it not to be using the same engine, or at least a heavily modified version of the same basic foundation. In fact, it seems all they bothered to add was the 360-degree physics system and fish eye lens camera effect. The development team responsible for BUG! and its sequel were also US-based, and I reckon they may have passed on a few assets so that Sega weren't left showing blank screens at their E3 booth. Just a few weeks later, they gained access to the NiGHTS engine, but it's claimed Yuji Naka threw his now-infamous tantrum around two weeks later, shutting down this particular episode of Xtreme's troubled production. Even the final "Project Condor" effort failed to create anything worthwhile, and it wasn't much longer after that when STI disappeared for good. Let's face it - borrowing resources from similarly talented groups couldn't help this game!

I'm certainly not knocking STI, as it was behind some truly fantastic pieces of software in such a short period of time. On the other hand, it speaks volumes that by the end it was reduced to collaborating with AM1 on Die Hard Arcade. The once promising bubble had well and truly burst by 1997, though it's not as if the likes of Comix Zone, The Ooze or Sonic Spinball were even that successful. These days only a handful of people would ever consider defending STI's titles, including a rapidly-shrinking number of Sonic fanatics who still believe Xtreme would have actually been a good idea. If the overall concept was so fantastic, how come it was cancelled rather than just delayed? Also, why hasn't Sega recycled its key features yet? Deep down we all know the real answer to these questions, though as I said before this entire chapter in Sega's history has been elevated to mythical status whether it deserved to be or not. By then Sonic Team had already given up on their mascot, probably because they knew his 16-bit heights would never again be reached.

slayer2k8> Sunrise Eiyuutan R was released in 2000 on PS2 and it has the same kind of CGs in its Opening. Though, I'm still not sure it's this one since there are many games attached to sunrise and to this series in particular.

Yakumo > The Playstation version was released in 1996 and was entitled "Race Drivin' a Go! Go!" but still looks like a very early version of a racing game. I don't know if there are many differences between the two versions, but it strange they take so much time to finish the Playstation port. Maybe the magazine was wrong about the machine.

Anthaemia > I think that when I was 12 or 13, Sonic Xtreme looked like a decent game partly due to the very bad video quality. It reminds me the day I watched Keio's flying squadron's opening in its Saturn version: the Mega-CD looked better because the grain hide its poor quality (also, thanks to my imagination).

I know Sonic Xtreme never used the BUG! engine in reality, but these games just looked so similar... maybe that is why visitors from SOJ favoured the more individual-looking boss engine technology? As for ex-STI members (unintentionally) helping out Sonic Team during the production of Burning Rangers by creating transparency effect solutions as part of a later development kit's software libraries, I seem to recall this being mentioned long ago as well - I'm just tired of continuing to read comments from people who believe Xtreme would have made a difference in the Saturn's overall fate when even some of the best programming teams within Sega couldn't manage to change its outcome. At best, it would probably have been filed in the same category as Sonic 3D or Sonic R: a bizarre tangent and stopgap until Yuji Naka's group came out with the next proper sequel. Even then, Sonic Adventure isn't worthy of comparison with the classic 16-bit trilogy, though your opinion may vary on just how close it came to reaching these heights.